


A Handful of Earth

by SmokeAndEmber



Series: Left for Dead [2]
Category: Southern Vampire Mysteries - Charlaine Harris, True Blood
Genre: Adventure, Angst, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2018-11-10
Packaged: 2018-12-21 17:38:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11949294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmokeAndEmber/pseuds/SmokeAndEmber
Summary: Set six weeks afterA Change of Worldsconcludes.See what happens next in the post-apoc world of Sookie Stackhouse now that she is safe, healed, and home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on publishing this until Susannah Still Alive was finished, but I've been watching the kudos on A Change of Worlds hover at 99 for weeks. It finally ticked over to 100 today and I got so excited! I decided to post the first chapter in celebration. Thanks to everyone here for all the support, feedback, con crit, and appreciation.
> 
>  
> 
> For new readers: this is a short sequel to A Change of Worlds. If you haven't read ACOW yet... Then this story won't make a lick of sense to you and the world it's set it in will be pretty confusing too. If you haven't read it already, I invite you to do so.

“What about Sadie?” I held the small yellow-paged book above my head, the sky behind it stretched across blue and endless. 

“No. Too American,” Claudine replied and I turned my head to poke my tongue out at her. The grass tickled my cheek.

“Okay…” I flicked through the pages at random before opening the book again. “What about Estelle? Or Evelyn?” 

There was a shriek, and I lifted my head off the grass to see Hunter darting around the trees, Dermot and Colman popping back and forth away from him. I couldn’t help but smile at the joy on his face, how it flooded his thoughts as he tried his hardest to use his telepathy to locate the fairies popping out of sight through the forest. 

I heard Claudine’s sharp intake of breath beside me and when I looked to her, she grabbed my arm excitedly. She was on her side facing me, the both of us laying in the sunny grass outside the old farmhouse in Bon Temps.

“Quickly, cousin, feel this,” she said. She lifted her flowy blouse and placed my hand on her warm, round stomach. I felt a soft thudding and rolling against my hand. 

“Wow…” I breathed, not daring to move my hand even as I turned on my side to face her too. I eventually lifted my hand up to watch as a round lump moved and poked out from below her rib cage. Her stomach shifted and the lump disappeared. 

“Was that an elbow?” I asked. 

“Maybe,” she smiled. She rubbed her stomach contentedly. I could feel the gentle pulse of the two little minds growing inside her. There were no discernable thoughts; just a steady thrum of needs met, of warmth and comfort. 

Dermot popped beside us, his face lit up as brightly as daylight. “He’s getting better!” 

Hunter ran across the grass towards us and Dermot popped right in front of him, sweeping him up into his arms. They both laughed uproariously and took off for the trees again.

“He’s so much like Jason,” I said watching Dermot. It made my heart hurt. Dermot and Jason could have almost passed for twins. 

“I wish for you that he could be here,” Claudine said, patting my hand sympathetically.

“He would’ve made a great uncle.” 

My stomach grumbled loudly and we laughed, the sad moment dissolving. We were being lazy laying in the grass anyway, it was way past lunch time. At least Claudine had an excuse. I could see the way the weariness of late pregnancy was drawing around her features. Her brown eyes still held their customary twinkle, but the slight circles under her eyes revealed the extent of her weariness. I helped Claudine to her feet and we headed inside to the kitchen. 

Gran’s house was restored again to its former pre-apocalypse glory. In fact, it looked even better now. The boards were pulled off the windows, the hardwood floors buffed and waxed, and Dermot, Claude and Colman had just finished repainting the outside a week earlier. The garden had taken off as well; everything that had been planted seemed to have grown by a foot between each visit. Niall had blessed the grounds, Claudine told me, and everything here would now and forever grow with abundance. I loved seeing the life being breathed back into my childhood home. 

For lunch that day, Dermot had brought through a basket laden with fresh salad greens and vegetables from Faerie, and so Claudine and I sat at the kitchen table, slicing tomatoes and some exotic variety of cucumber for a salad. 

“So…?” Claudine asked with an inquiring smile. She scraped the sliced tomatoes from the chopping board into the bowl and set her knife down on top of the board. 

“What?” 

“I wish to know how it’s going with your vampire.” She leaned an elbow onto the table, resting her chin on her hand, brown eyes sparkling. 

I finished slicing the cucumbers and added them to the bowl. 

“I – well…” I trailed off, reaching out with mental feelers to check on Hunter, now a nervous habit of mine. He was still playing in the yard. “Things are… good.” 

“Good?” She scrunched the tip of her nose. “Of all the descriptors you could pick, you simply choose ‘good’?”

“Well, things are. I’m not sure what else you want me to say.” I grabbed a bunch of chives and stood to rinse them under the faucet. 

“How about, he loves me passionately with every last one of his undying breaths and my life now has meaning with him by my side?” 

I shot her a look from over my shoulder. “Claudine, does that sound like the sort of thing I’d say?” 

Claudine laughed melodiously. “True, cousin. I might be inclined to check your temperature if you’d said that.” 

I returned with the washed chives and sat back down. 

“If you must know, things are great between us. When we’re together… I don’t know, it’s like life seems in technicolor.” 

Claudine looked at me blankly. 

“You know,” I paused my chopping to gesture with the knife, “things seem brighter, life feels happier. It’s just all the other stuff.”

“Mmhmm…” she said encouragingly. 

I sighed and set the knife down. “Do you really want to hear this?” 

She nodded eagerly and I narrowed my eyes. 

“Why?” 

Pam was always hounding me for details if only to satisfy her irrepressible curiosity and to find details to needle Eric with. Not that I thought Claudine was doing the same, but then again, who really knew with fairies.

“You are family; I care for you, Sookie. I simply wish to know how your life is.”

She took my hand, instilling it with her fairy warmth, the kind that makes you overflow with feelings of wellness. 

“Okay,” I sighed, relenting as I enjoyed the warm of her touch. “What I mean by ‘other stuff’ is… is the difficulties of a long distance relationship, and how tricky it is to even have a relationship while sharing a house with another telepath. I feel like I’m constantly on guard, like I have to either mentally check on Hunter every few minutes to make sure he’s still there, and still sleeping, slash not listening in when we… You know.” My cheeks prickled, turning red. “Otherwise, I’m just struggling with keeping my shields up for when it counts - if you catch my drift. Then there’s the whole issue of having a vampire for a boyfriend - when the last vampires to roll through town killed two of its citizens and kidnapped another. I’ve been a hot topic of debate at more than one town meeting.” I exhaled heavily with the end of my spiel.

“That’s a lot to deal with.”

“You’re telling me.” I picked up the knife and resumed chopping. I was just waiting for the citizens of River Rock to start calling me Crazy Sookie behind my back. Or maybe take it one step further and drive me out with pitchforks. 

“I might be able to help with the shielding issue.” 

“Really?” I asked, hope flaring. Claudine smiled gently and leaned forward on the table resting her chin on her fist.

“Let me talk to Dermot and I’ll get back to you on that.” 

“No!” I yelped, feeling my cheeks turn completely beet red. “Don’t tell him what I said. It’s so embarrassing.” Last thing I wanted was my great-uncle knowing I needed any sort of help in the sex department. 

“Oh, Sookie,” she said with an airy laugh. “You’re not the only person in a household with telepaths that’s encountered this problem. Granted, your breed of telepathy is quite different to fae telepathy, but there are still things in Faerie that can help with it… And as well, you also know Colman and I would be thrilled to have Hunter for the night here in your family home.”

“I know, I know,” I sighed. She had offered often enough. “But you understand... It’s hard for me to let go of him for the night when you’re all the way here and I’m still back in South Carolina. It’s not like I pop in to check on him.” 

I could barely let Hunter out of my sight in the evenings, let alone for a whole night states away with an otherworldly family I was still getting to know.

After Claudine and I had first met on the morning of that fateful night I rescued Hunter, she had become a fixture in my life. She, like Pam, visited frequently. Colman, Claudine’s fairy husband, accompanied her often too. It was hard not to love Claudine. And Colman, who I was initially distrustful of, I was also slowly warming to. It was mostly because I saw the way he looked at Claudine when she wasn’t watching. He was devoted.

I was thrilled when Claudine announced her pregnancy. In fact, we danced around my kitchen in much the same way as we had in the farmhouse attic when I’d found the cluviel dor. But it was Colman who approached me alone one morning to speak to me about it privately. 

I had returned home from bike riding with Hunter, and we sat in the front garden of my house at River Rock sharing a pitcher of sweet tea, watching as Hunter searched for frogs in the low reeds surrounding the small fish pond we’d dug out front. 

Fighting between fairy factions continued, he had told me, and with the fairy’s dreadfully low birth rates, he didn’t feel it was safe for her to carry a pregnancy in Faerie. He was mostly concerned about her stress levels, and he confided that she had suffered through several miscarriages before finally conceiving the twins. This was her longest pregnancy so far. When he asked me about letting him restore my old family home for them to live in during the duration of the pregnancy, I had simply hugged him and told him it was theirs if they wanted it. 

Hunter and I began spending days with our fairy brethren in Bon Temps, Colman popping Hunter and I back and forth between South Carolina and Louisiana. Niall sometimes joined in on our family get-togethers too, and I eventually came to know more of my kin, Claude and Dermot. Some of my wariness for fairies remained, but ultimately what swayed me was how deeply they valued family. That and the fact my family were part of the Sky clan, a faction of fairies who were in deep opposition to the Water clan - the clan who brought about the end of the world. Maybe not literally, but they’d certainly brought about the end to humanity. 

My fairy kin’s family values ended up being a quality that resonated with me. They considered me and Hunter family and so cared for us implicitly. I found it hard not to care for them in return. 

“And all else is good with you and Eric?" Claudine continued. "He treats you well? Niall says he has long carried a reputation as an amazing lover.” 

“Oh my god,” I muttered, my blush deepening for a whole list of different reasons. That was the other thing about fairies. They had absolutely no understanding of normal human boundaries. I’d woken one morning after spending the night in Bon Temps to find Claude, completely in the nude and frying up eggs on Gran’s favorite cast iron pan. 

“Just don’t forget about my offer,” she whispered as Hunter came clattering into the kitchen, declaring fatal levels of hunger at the top of his lungs. I told her I’d consider it, as my mind thought of another similar solution.

* * *

I opened my front door after the first knock and dragged Eric in off the porch by his jacket. His face lit up and he kicked the door shut behind him, backing me up against the wall. 

“Miss me?” he murmured, blazing a trail of kisses along my neck and clavicle. 

“What do you think?” I half panted, half whispered the words, tugging at the zip of his leather jacket. My mouth finally found his and we kissed passionately. Eric growled and picked me up, my legs wrapping around him. Our mouths parted long enough for him to throw off his jacket and for me pull his t-shirt over his head. He began down the hall to the bedroom. 

“No,” I said in between reacquainting my lips with his amazing pecs. “The living room.” 

Eric’s footsteps faltered.

“Really? What if Hunter…?” 

“He’s not here,” I said, grazing my teeth over his nipple. “Having a sleepover with Bec and Abby for the night.” 

I pulled away and grinned at the way his expression changed upon learning that tidbit. We zipped into the living room where I had earlier dragged my mattress in front of the fireplace. 

I landed back onto the mattress with a bounce and a giggle. I hurried to pull my white sundress up and over my head while Eric kneeled at the foot of the bed, watching with unrestrained hunger. I crawled to him and kissed my way slowly up his abs, using my tongue and teeth on his nipples in the way I knew made him go crazy. He grunted my name and I pulled myself all the way up to stand on my knees, finally drawing his mouth back down to mine. 

“Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you are?” he growled, hands roaming up my hips and over the front of my lacy white bra. 

“Look who’s talking, buddy,” I said, removing the band holding his hair back and curling my fingers through his braid, loosening it. 

“Buddy? I think I’m more than just your buddy.” His hand traveled under the thin fabric of my lace thong, stroking me gently. “Wouldn’t you agree?” 

I moaned, pressing another hard kiss against his lips and reached back to pull my hair out of its bun too; my small gift to him. I felt the growl reverberate through him as my hair fell loose, and we landed back on the bed, his heavy frame pressed against mine. 

“I thought you might like that.” I felt my laughter bubble up. I always made a point to shower thoroughly after returning from seeing Claudine in order to get the scent of fae off me, but today I opted to keep my hair in a shower cap while bathing and skip washing it for his benefit.

“My devious little fairy,” he said. I felt his smile and fangs at my neck as he breathed me in, sending my lady parts into overdrive. It made me wonder if I had finally lost all sense of survival instinct. At that moment, the possibility was quite distinct. Clothing rapidly vanished, Eric’s fingers at the juncture between my thighs, stroking me, racing me to the brink while I clung onto him, waiting to be launched over the edge.

“Now,” I panted, “I need you now…” 

I hooked my leg up over his hip and he guided the hard tip of himself to my entrance, gently teasing me there up and down, his thumb running light circles over my clit. I whimpered both in pleasure and in torment from the denial, urging him on with breathy pleas. 

He teased me still and I held back my climax until I could no longer, until it was too late to turn around and backtrack. I dug my nails into his shoulders, crying out in abandon and he finally entered me with one smooth thrust as my orgasm hit. His name burst from my lips with a loud exclamation, my hands continuing to explore the hard muscles and ridges of his back. He kissed me deeply as my walls clenched around him, and in that moment the only things in this world that existed was us, and this bed and the sensation of him moving inside me. 

I rolled him onto his back and rode him on top, our eyes locked, and his hands on my breasts, caressing me, bringing me rapidly close to the edge of another steep climax. I leaned over and pressed my neck to him. His fangs grazed against my pulse point, his hands moving to guide my hips up and down against him. We really were getting this down to a fine art.

“Sweet Sookie…” he groaned and he bit me, his movements turning jerky and deep as he came inside me. I followed a moment after, lost in another round of good feeling. He fed lazily then, his arms enveloping me, holding me close to his chest. 

We lay quietly, my head resting on his shoulder, his hand absently stroking my back. I focused on catching my breath while brushing away the strands of my hair from his face. Eric pricked his fingertip against a fang and rubbed the blood that welled there against the bite marks on my neck. 

I’d never asked him to heal his bite marks on my neck, but somehow he’d seemed to sense it was necessary with all the discontent I was facing from townsfolk. And anyway, there were usually bite marks hidden in other locations that he never bothered with healing, and those I quite liked catching the odd glimpse of as I undressed on the nights he wasn’t visiting. A little thrill to remind me of him when he was back in Atlanta. 

Lord help me, I was turning into a hussy. 

“I like your wood fire,” he said, after reality returned to us both. I poked his ribs in response. 

“It’s too warm to light the fire,” I groused. “The candles work just as well.” I’d set a line of candles on the hearth before his arrival and lit them trying to set the right mood. We had never spent a night without Hunter since Eric and I rekindled our... Our whatever we were. 

“Don’t tell me you’re getting romantic on me, lover. Trying to recreate the moment?” He rolled over on top of me, boxing me in with his arms. 

I froze, deer caught in the headlights. Wasn’t that exactly what I was doing? Trying to recapture how it was on those nights in Tennessee? Judging by the smug look on his face he wanted me to spell it out for him. Dammit. Sneaky vampire. It had only been a few weeks. I was so not going there yet and I would definitely not be the one to reveal my feelings first. We weren’t Define The Relationship point, or the Define The Anything, really. Taking it as it came was the theme I was working with when it came to Eric Northman.

“I, uh…” 

He gave me a shit-eating grin, and I cursed inwardly. Not answering was as good as a yes. He told me not to move, blurring from the bed and out of the room. I heard the faucet running in the bathroom and he was back a moment later, with a washcloth in one hand and my book in the other. We cleaned up and he reclaimed his position next to me in bed. 

“How has your week been?” I asked once he’d trapped me under his limbs again.

“Uneventful, until now.” He kissed me. “The city is having troubles regulating the bacteria levels of the drinking water in the water reserve, so I’ve been tasked with helping them all week.” 

“What does that involve?”

“Diving into the reservoir and checking for contaminants.”

I tried to picture Eric in diving gear and couldn’t quite manage. Who was I kidding? He probably did it naked.

"Any luck with that?" 

"Found some dead cattle, strangely enough. I retrieved the carcasses. I'm confident that will resolve the issue." 

“And how’s Pam?” 

“Bored of Atlanta; she has become incorrigible. I was tempted to restrain her just so that I could leave for South Carolina alone. She was determined to come along.”

“She’s finally sucked and fucked her way through every available woman in Atlanta, then?” 

Eric gave me a somewhat surprised look at my words and called me a minx. 

“Those were her words, not mine!” I protested.

Eric chuckled and asked after my week. I kept it light, telling him about my day with Hunter in Bon Temps, working in my garden and out at the farm earlier in the week. I shared how I tagged along with Owen and the engineer, Nick, the day before as they performed maintenance on the power poles. Nick let me climb up alongside him in the harness and we replaced some of the ceramic insulators, he’d also shown me inside some of the tin teapot-looking transformer canisters. I asked Eric if he knew they were filled with gallons of mineral oil. 

“No, lover, I did not. Is that safe?”

“Completely. The power is down during daylight hours.” 

“And climbing that high?” He sounded dubious. 

“I’d like you to recall that I escaped off the third-floor balcony of a certain someone’s suite in Florida perfectly unharmed and unharnessed.” 

“You never did tell me how you managed that.” His eyes narrowed. I smiled sweetly. Oh, I bet that had been niggling him for a good long while. 

“…You know, I was raised to believe every woman should always leave a little to mystery.” 

“Do I need to remind you, that for all your gymnastic feats you still managed to slip and fall on a fence paling?” 

I decided I had enough talk of the past and tried to distract him by sliding between his legs, kissing my way down his cool body until my mouth found someplace that brought all conversation to a halt and began much more enjoyable endeavors within the present.

I curled to Eric’s side a little while later, trying to focus as Eric read from another chapter of _The Long Home_ , a novel which had been gripping and demanding of my attention when we’d read it together on previous nights, but not this evening. I found my mind wandering, pensive. 

“Sookie…” he said, for the third time since he’d begun reading.

“Sorry. Keep going,” I murmured into his chest. “I’m listening.”

He read another paragraph before closing the book. He slid out from under me and got up off the mattress. I propped myself on one elbow, watching as he dressed.

“What are you doing?” 

He picked up my dress and handed it to me.

“We’re going for a walk,” he said. I frowned at him but got out of bed. I lifted the blankets and looked under the sofa trying to locate my underthings but only managed to find my underpants, not my bra. I gave up on the bra, and just wriggled back into my dress and panties. 

“And why are we going for a walk?” I asked, pulling my hair up into a messy bun.

“Because you can’t relax.” He looked down at me, his brows lifting in a way that dared me to defy his statement. I frowned deeper back at him. I’d just relaxed with him… Twice in a row, thank you very much. I bit back my knee-jerk retort and huffed instead. 

So, okay, maybe he had a point. 

I pulled on my vans and grabbed my cardigan from beside the door on the way out. We walked alongside one another through the quiet streets. I eventually reached out and took his hand, looping my fingers through his. I quickly cottoned on to where he was taking me.

The night was cooling now but still pleasant. It had rained earlier in the day, so the air smelled fresh and dewy, the crickets out in full force. As we walked closer towards the center of town, I could sense the minds around us were slowing with the day’s end or simply sleeping. 

My shields weren’t as great as they were back in their hey-day when I worked at Merlotte’s, I was out of practice in many ways, but having Eric beside me tempered any stray thoughts. Holding his hand, I had to mentally reach out with my mind to actually listen in. He was like a brain buffer for me.

My home was on the outskirts of River Rock, more or less isolated with no one living in the surrounding streets. I’d told Jessup when Huner and I first came to town that it was important to have somewhere isolated to live, that I suffered extreme migraines and needed the quiet. So he’d shown me the street, with the large properties and modestly sized homes hidden down long driveways. The isolation was essential - for me and especially for Hunter. We couldn’t have any people living around us. Not if we wanted it to be a place to relax mentally.

We walked in companionable silence for the ten-minute walk until we arrived at Bec’s clapboard home. He sat me down on the curb opposite and settled beside me. A dim light illuminated Bec’s sitting room where a white lacy privacy curtain covered the window, though I could still see the back of her head from where she sat in her favorite recliner. She was sewing. 

I felt for Hunter’s mind inside, he was resting peacefully. He was within a cycle of deep sleep; his mind empty of dreams. I rested my head against Eric’s shoulder, sinking back into his enveloping silence.

“He’s safe,” I whispered. Eric moved to stand up, but I grasped his hand. “Wait. Just a little longer.”

My ass was getting wet on the nature strip and I felt practically indecent being in public without a bra on and with only a thong under my dress, but right at that moment, I felt like I could let my heart breathe again. 

“This is ridiculous,” Eric muttered to himself after the minutes crept by. He stood and zipped up to Bec’s door before I could stop him. He knocked three times. 

“What are you doing?” I hissed and I jogged across to him. Too late, the door swung open. 

“Oh - hey Sookie. Hi Eric.” Bec held the quilt she was working on over her arm, the needle still tucked into the edge of a large daisy she’d been appliquéing into the corner of the blanket.

“We’re here for the boy,” Eric said flatly.

Bec’s brow pinched together and she looked to me. “He’s fine. He settled fine without you, Sook. The kids had a great evening together.” 

“I know,” I said, giving her a helpless smile. I was less than thrilled Eric took the initiative without asking, but I wasn’t too proud to admit to myself that I was glad he did. Bec eyes softened in sympathy and she stepped back, opening the door a little wider. 

“Come in, then. The both of you.” 

Eric collected Hunter from the mattress on the floor of Abby’s room where he was sleeping. Hunter barely stirred, still lost within the deep confines of slumber. I slipped off my cardigan and tucked it around his shoulders. Seeing him nestled in Eric’s arms made me appreciate how small he really was. Maybe it was still a little early for him to be having sleepovers.

I watched Eric from my periphery as we walked back home together. He kept a human pace beside me, a sort of soft resolve in his gaze as he looked straight ahead. His arms were cradling Hunter’s form securely and Hunter’s face, slack with sleep, was resting against his shoulder. It occurred to me that Eric collecting Hunter hadn’t just been solely for my benefit. 

We’d made it nearly all the way home when Eric’s head shifted slightly, scenting the air. I reached out with mental feelers. 

“It’s Jessup,” I whispered. “And Mike.” 

They emerged from the shadows of the street before us. Mike had a rifle on his shoulders. 

“Evening, Sookie,” Jessup nodded. “Eric.” 

Eric replied with a single neutral nod. Mike, a short ruddy-faced human with golden hair who’d lived in town since the early days, echoed the greeting to both of us. 

“A bit late for an evening walk,” I said, smiling politely and trying to look casual as I crossed my arms over my chest. Of course we’d come across company the one time I leave the house looking indecent.

“Just patrolling,” Mike replied. 

“Patrolling?” I echoed. 

“It makes folks feel safe,” Jessup said, his eyes darting to Eric. I felt my hackles rise. 

Eric snorted derisively. 

“It makes folk feel safe when you patrol the empty streets near my home?” I questioned. “And let me guess, you only do that on the nights my… my…” I searched for the right word.

“Lover,” Eric supplied helpfully. I shot him a look that communicated in no uncertain terms to zip-it. 

“Only on the nights Eric visits?” I finished. 

“You’re bringing a vampire into our community. People ain’t happy,” Mike shrugged, his fingers drumming against the butt of the rifle he was resting against his shoulder. I began to see red. 

“You of all people can understand that,” Jessup said coolly, and I could feel the righteous anger he was restraining. He was thinking about Donna. About that night she died. “The community agreed it was a measure that made good sense.” 

“Did they just?” I hissed between gritted teeth. And there it was. ‘The community’. He may not have phrased it like that intentionally, but the implicit meaning was still couched under the term. I was an ‘other’ now. They were the community and I was Sookie, who just lived there next to them. 

A feeling returned, one I hadn’t experienced for a long time – the undercurrent of inferiority I experienced growing up in Bon Temps. I was a part of the town, but I wasn’t a part of it, not really. I was different. Crazy Sookie. It made me an outsider. 

I’d struggled my whole life in Bon Temps trying to fit in… Attending church, working at the local watering hole, participating in working bees, cheering on the Hawks at every high school game, helping out with Sunday school. All that and it was still never enough. Like now.

“I come to South Carolina only to visit Sookie,” Eric said. “I have no intentions of… Fraternizing with other locals.” 

“Don’t bother, Eric,” I said, stepping between Mike and Jessup to continue walking down the street. “There’s no use talking to brick walls. They’re incapable of seeing sense.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest - I'm not a huge fan of kids in stories. Especially when they're the main focus and drag attention away from favorite characters. I think some of you are probably of the same opinion.
> 
> Obviously, Sookie being a single mother and in a world where she is more or less isolated with Hunter, this story will feature Hunter to some extent... but I can promise you the majority of the focus/scenes will be on adult interaction.


	2. Chapter 2

I sat with Hunter on his bed, gently stroking his forehead until he fell back asleep. He’d woken when we got home just long enough to use the bathroom and have a drink of water before settling in his own bed. I was actually glad he woke, it meant he wouldn’t be shocked when he woke up in the morning to find himself back home.

I flopped onto the sofa when I got back to the sitting room, ignoring the hunky vampire reclining on the queen-sized mattress once again. I let out a huff of frustration. 

“Would you like me to end him?” Eric asked. My eyes widened in surprise. He asked it so casually, I had to repeat the words in my head just to make sure he was saying what I thought he was saying. 

“You’re joking.” 

“He’s the leader here, is he not? I kill Jessup and then we could ensure a more suitable replacement takes his position. Bec, perhaps?” 

I dropped my head back against the couch and pressed a fist to my forehead where a headache was beginning to set in. “Urgh. Eric… No. That’s not how it works in the real world.” 

He didn’t respond. Probably because that was exactly how it worked in the real world of vampires. 

“It doesn’t matter who the leader is. I still won’t be accepted,” I explained finally. 

“It’s not you they don’t accept, it’s me.” I heard movement and felt Eric’s cool hands as he gently removed the shoes from my feet. I lifted my head off the couch and watched as he massaged my foot, his hands trailing up behind my calves. 

“I don’t know about that,” I said quietly. “I have exclusive access into what they think of me. And anyway, if it is you, then they’re being racist. Or species-ist, or whatever the hell the word is.” He lifted me down onto the mattress and sat me so I was facing him. 

“Pamela is leaving Atlanta,” he said, his swift change of subject catching me off guard. Like a guillotine landing on a chopping block.

“She is?” My chest constricted at the thought of saying goodbye to my dear friend. The feeling intensified with the next thought. “What about you…?” 

“She’s going to the west coast. There’s talk of a large community there. Humans and vampires living side by side. Electricity all night. Apparently, they have a rudimentary form of the internet running again.” 

“A compound?” I asked, acutely aware he’d sidestepped my question. I studied his face carefully. The bitter tug at his lips, the determined rise of his brow. I felt something inside me start to crack.

“No,” he said quietly. “Living like they did before the plague. As equals. No compound. Come with us.” 

“I can’t,” I said hoarsely, I slipped my hands out from under his. 

“Why?”

“We’re settled here. This is my home. Hunter’s home.”

“Is it?” He placed just enough emphasis on the words that tears sprung to my eyes. 

“So that’s it? You’re going?” 

“I won’t settle there without you.” 

I nodded then, exhaling slowly, willing the tension away. He would allow his child to venture on without him in the new world so he could stay with me. And then what…? He would stay in a city he didn’t like, so he could travel across state to visit me in a town where he wasn’t welcome and likely would never be. Where was the long-term in that? I swallowed thickly.

How long had passed since he’d first shown up on my door step that rainy night? Six weeks, maybe seven? Our relationship was still fledgling. I couldn’t possibly entertain the thought of doing this. I had a child to think about. Only a crazy woman would consider packing up and moving across the country with two vampires. We didn’t even have a car. We didn’t even know what was waiting for us at the end of the road. And it had only been six weeks! 

I scooted away from him and laid down on the mattress with my back to him, pulling the covers over my shoulders. “I can’t think about this right now.” 

“But you will.” He got under the covers and spooned me from behind. I stiffened.

“What’s that meant to mean?” I couldn’t help the accusation in my voice. 

“You will think about it.” 

“Oh.” I relaxed against him. “Well, that, I guess I can promise.” 

* * *

There was a fairy at my door. And it wasn’t my fairy godmother, nor was it a fairy there to collect a tooth from Hunter. 

“Sookie.”

“Claude.” I blinked at him. I wasn’t expecting company. I was tired from my late night with Eric, sore in all the right places, and so planning on taking it easy with Hunter for the day. I had a lot to think about.

“Well, are you going to let me in?” he huffed. 

“If you tell me why you’re here.” I leaned against the door jamb and held the door partially closed with one hand. 

Claude looked incredible as usual, his long dark hair brushed back off his face, his eyes piercing. He was dressed impeccably in a crisp white linen button up and (extremely) well-fitting sandstone colored chinos. He looked like the dashing leading man from one of those old romance novels I used to read, except with the disposition of a narcissistic ass who thought he was God’s gift to green earth. 

He lifted the package in his arms. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied neatly with string. I perked up a little. 

“Uncle sent me with something for you. If you want me to install it so you can do the horizontal hula with the walking dead and not disturb your son, then you will let me in.”

“Fine,” I bristled, stepping back to hold the door open for him. God, he was an unredeeming ass. Hunter came barreling in at full speed from the back garden and Claude set the package down on the kitchen table, lifting my boy up into a bear hug. 

“Here’s my favorite cousin,” Claude crooned before setting him down. I stood by smiling. Okay, maybe not a complete ass. 

“Claude! Come play with me. I have my trucks in the sandpit!” Hunter jumped up and down, depositing a fine dusting of sand from his clothing onto the floor around him. 

“Where’s your hat, Hunter?” I asked.

 _Outside, Momma,_ Hunter answered automatically, without even breaking his gaze from Claude. 

_Make sure you put it on when you go back out, hon._

“I’ll be free to play in a minute, little cousin,” said Claude. “But first, your mother and I have something here to put up in your room to help you sleep.” 

But Hunter, using all his tricks (i.e., puppy eyes, whining the word please on repeat, pouty bottom lip) managed to con Claude out to the sandpit first, so I made myself useful by fixing a platter for morning tea. Goats’ cheese using milk from our very own goat in the back yard, sliced rye, carrot sticks, dried apricots, and prunes. I called the boys back in and we sat together at the kitchen table, Hunter pulling his chair close to Claude. 

Between mouthfuls of food, Hunter began busily informing Claude about the new beehive we’d set up in the garden. It was actually a few months old, but the news was still fantastic and fresh for a four-year-old, who now got to enjoy honey sandwiches as a treat on occasion. 

Claude was like an utterly different person around Hunter, he became warm and kind. Seeing the way he interacted with Hunter always left me feeling surprised, since it pretty much seemed the only way he was ever capable of behaving was snotty and aloof. At least where I was concerned.

“May I?” I asked, interrupting the conversation when Hunter paused to inhale a fistful of dried fruit. 

Claude pushed the package my way and I carefully unwrapped it. Under the brown paper was another layer of fine tissue paper and under that, an ornate silver framed mirror about the size of a dinner plate. 

“A mirror?” I lifted it. My face smiled back. A little tired, but there was a wispy quality to my smile. I wasn’t sure if that was the mirror’s effect or my vampire lover’s. 

“I’ll hang it above the door inside his room if there’s space. Otherwise, over his bed will work. Above the door is best, it was designed for doorways. The magical effect will be more effusive from that position; it will encompass the room entirely.”

“I don’t like it,” Hunter said, standing up on his seat to lean over the table to examine the mirror. “I don’t want a mirror.” 

“Back on your bottom, please. You’ll hardly notice a mirror above your door, honey.” I shifted the mirror across the table for him to see so that he wouldn’t need to stand on his seat. 

I would’ve killed for something like this as a child. An object that created a safe space to retreat into when I lived with Mom, Dad, and Jason. Being able to shut a door and block out the thoughts of others sounded incredible. 

Hunter shook his head and sat down. “Mommy wants it, not me.” 

I narrowed my eyes at him. He was picking thoughts from my head. 

_Mommy wants it for you,_ I thought at him. 

“You’ll be able to relax,” said Claude. “You won’t hear anything in your head when you’re in there. Your dreams will be even sweeter.”

After morning tea, I showed Claude the toolbox and left him to Hunter’s room so he could properly install the mirror. He didn’t ask for my help, so I didn’t offer it. He probably needed to do some weird fairy ritual to get it working anyway. 

Hunter and I wandered down to the back, feeding the scraps from morning tea to the goat and then I perched on the edge of the wooden sandpit, helping Hunter dig tracks in the sand for his matchbox cars to race along. Hunter was in his element, racing the cars while supplying the sound effects for them. I gave up trying to stay sand-free and ended up climbing in too. 

“Where’s Claude, Momma?” 

“Oh.” He was taking his time. “Has he popped back home?” I lifted my head to listen with both senses. I found him inside but no longer in Hunter’s room. 

_Hang on a minute, I’ll be right back,_ I told Hunter. 

The only response I got from Hunter was the sound of an engine revving. I brushed off my pants and feet before walking in through the opened french doors. I could feel Claude moving somewhere deeper within the house, maybe in my room. I walked down the hallway and Claude popped right in front of me. 

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“All done,” he said, smirking in reply. I leveled a suspicious look at him. What was it with supes and not answering direct questions? 

“Hunter’s waiting for you,” I said coolly. Claude sauntered past me down the hall and back towards outside while I trailed into Hunter’s room to check the mirror. 

I drew a sudden breath as soon as I entered. It was completely silent. Well, not completely - I could still hear the birds outside, the soft chatter of Hunter talking to Claude at the sandpit, and the distant sound of wood chopping from somewhere closer to town. But mentally, my feelers stretched as far as the walls of Hunter’s room and then stopped. An invisible barrier was preventing my mind from escaping the confines of the room. It was … bizarre. And fantastic. 

I stepped out into the hallway and called Hunter’s attention with my mind. _Can you hear what I’m singing?_ I asked. I stepped back into his room and began singing _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_ in my head. I stepped back into the hallway after one verse. 

_So?_ I asked. 

_Mommy, you sang Twinkly Twinkly Star._

_Okay. Now you try to sing something._

I stepped back over the threshold into the mental silence of his bedroom. I waited ten seconds and stepped into the hall again. The second I stepped back out into the hall, I caught the tail end of him singing _Happy Birthday_. It worked! I smiled to myself happily. I would hear him mentally if I needed to. But while he was in the room, he wouldn’t be able to hear me - unless I physically called out to him. 

I moved to join them outside but did a double take as I passed by my bedroom. 

Something was different. 

I stepped inside slowly. My bed was still made, the white coverlet neat, the throw pillows as I’d left them. But there was now a slight depression on the quilt cover beside the night stand that hadn’t been there before. Like someone had been sitting down. The top drawer of my night stand wasn’t completely closed either. 

I opened the drawer and looked inside. My things had been rifled with. Nothing had been taken from what I could tell. I crossed the room to my sit down at my vanity dressing table. I opened every drawer. Things had been moved, my jewelry box had been rummaged through. I got back up and checked my chest of drawers and the hanging space in the closet. All the same. Things slightly adjusted, slightly different to how I’d left them. I exhaled angrily through my nose. Fucking, intrusive fucking fairies. 

I snapped at Claude as soon I got outside. “Did you go through my things?”

“Claudine asked me to see if you had a dress watch. She wanted to get you one for your birthday next month,” he answered smoothly, not looking up from where he was sitting in the sand with Hunter. The words came out far too easily. Too practiced. Too practiced for my liking. 

I crossed my arms and he looked at me with an expression that could melt the panties off a thousand women. Too bad he didn’t swing that way. And that he was a snoop. 

“Hunter, say goodbye to Claude. He has to go now.”

“Awww…” 

Claude smirked as he brushed past me on his way out. “Until next time, cousin!” he waved, popping away mid-stride down the garden path. 

Hunter and I washed the sand from our hands in the bathroom and I set him up with some blocks in the lounge room. I grabbed the hammer Claude had used to hang the mirror and walked into the spare bedroom. I checked with my mind for anyone, fairies or otherwise, in the vicinity and shut the curtains over the bedroom windows. I needed privacy. 

I heaved and shifted the dresser that sat in the corner and peeled up the corner of carpet underneath so it revealed the timber flooring. I sat down cross legged and pulled up at the nails on the second floorboard from the corner. They hadn’t been nailed down completely flush with the boards, so it only took a handful of tugs to get them out. I lifted the floorboard out and retrieved the small plastic tupperware container hidden underneath. Inside the container was a crushed midnight blue velvet bag. I opened it and tipped the contents into my hand. 

The cluviel dor slipped out into the palm of my hand, warm and welcoming. I closed my fist around the object. 

Claude hadn’t found it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no update. Trying to finish this story in the spirit of NaNoWriMo (and in the spirit of there being a lull in my freelance work and post-grad schooling). I've got this chapter and another two written. I expect it to be 8-10 chapters in total. It's all plotted and ready to be written. And my writing brain-space is back. The next chapter will be out in a few days.

Hunter and I ate an early dinner at home. Afterward, I wrangled him into his hoodie and sweatpants. I packed my backpack with a couple bottles of hard apple cider I’d picked up at the last swap market. 

We rode our bikes down into the main part of town and pulled up at Owen’s house, a small brick home painted white. It was well maintained, but the garden and style of home, with its neatly trimmed hedges and small garden gnomes, were more suited to an elderly person rather than a mid-20s bachelor. I always found it a bit odd that Owen has picked this place above all the others in town.

I knocked on the screen door, calling out to announce our arrival and grabbed onto Hunter’s hand tightly. He was planning to barge right on in. 

“Hey, guys. What a nice surprise.” Owen opened the screen door.

“We’re not intruding, are we?” 

“Nope. Just got back from the body shop. I'd just put my feet up and decided it was time to do sweet fu…” He trailed off catching the curse word in time. “Sweet stuff all,” he finished off lamely instead. He gave me his usual self-deprecating lopsided smile. 

“Well, if you don’t mind entertaining a couple of local misfits for a while, I’ve got a bottle of hard apple cider with your name on it.” 

“How can I say no to that? You better come in.” 

We sat out on his back stoop, each with a bottle of cider and watched as Hunter tore around the garden with Roley, Owen’s golden retriever. 

“You should get a dog,” Owen said, as Hunter began throwing a stick for Roley. 

“No thanks,” I said with a resolute shake of my head. “I have enough trouble keeping one extra mouth fed, I don’t need to worry about another. Hunter is like an endless vacuum where food goes in. I can’t keep up.” 

Owen laughed, taking a swig from his drink. “He’s a growing boy. They need a lot of food. Believe me… I was one of five brothers.” 

“Good grief, your poor mother.” My eyes widened as I imaged the number of dishes and laundry. Or just the grocery bill alone.

He chuckled. “Yeah, I doubt it was easy, though she made it seem like it.” He turned serious and shifted to look at me plain in the face. “So, what’s up, Sook? I know you didn’t come all this way to make small talk. It’s not like you’ve made much of an effort at friendship since we split.” 

I felt my cheeks prickle with shame. He wasn’t wrong. 

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m a lousy friend.” 

He waved his hand dismissively. “That’s not what I meant. Water under the bridge. Tell me what’s bothering ya.” 

I sighed, my eyes returning to Hunter.

“Did you know Jessup has arranged to patrol the streets near my place during the nights when I have Eric visit? And Pam too, I’m guessing.” 

His expression and thoughts softened with sympathy, and I exhaled slowly, looking down at the bottle in my hands. I guess that answered that question. I was the last to know.

“How does he even know when they visit?” I complained. “Pam arrives without warning most times.” 

“Eric doesn’t, though, does he?” 

I gave him a sharp look. Eric had been visiting every Tuesday night and most Fridays too. “So this was your idea too?” 

“No. But Jessup had a meeting at his place one night, floated the idea past a few folks.” 

“Why does it feel like I’m being targeted?” 

“It’s not you Sookie…”

“It’s not me?!” I asked, my voice turning shrill. I dropped it to a harsh whisper when I saw Hunter glance across to us as he wrestled a stick off Roley. “I would never do anything to jeopardize the safety of people in River Rock.” 

“Of course you wouldn’t, not intentionally. But vampires are like rats, Sookie. Eric and Pam might be alright, but where there’s one or two there’s always more.” 

“That is incredibly racist, Owen.” I slammed my drink down and stood up. He grasped my wrist to prevent me from stalking away. 

“Wait, I didn’t mean for it to come out like that.” 

“Then tell me, how exactly did you mean it to come out when you likened my… my… the man I’m dating to a household pest?!” 

“I don’t want to upset you. I can see how happy you are with him.” He didn’t try and take his insult back, though. I lowered my shields to catch his stream of consciousness. _Rats live in nests. And they bite,_ he thought. _And he is no man._

“That’s really prejudiced, you know?”

Owen’s face twisted with confusion. “How is wanting you to be happy prejudiced?” It wasn’t. It was his thoughts that were. I couldn’t very well say that. I’d never told him of my telepathy.

“Just because someone is different doesn’t mean they’re a threat or that they don’t belong in the community.” I didn’t know if I was talking about vampires or myself now. I let out a hard sigh and sunk back down next to him. He handed me my drink which I took from his hand roughly. “And I _am_ happy.” 

Why did it feel like I was having to justify that to everyone lately? I took a long draw of the cider. It wasn’t so much sweet, rather crisp and dry with just enough fizz to make it tasty. 

“And what about in the long term?” 

Hunter and Roley had lost their stick. Hunter was on all fours alongside the dog, searching under the hedges near the fence looking for a suitable replacement. Roley let out an ecstatic bark when Hunter emerged triumphant, clutching a stick high above his head. The sunlight was low now, bathing them in a glow of orange. Hunter looked like a little conqueror with Roley, his golden-haired steed, by his side. 

“Why can’t I just be happy in the now?” I asked softly. Why was it so hard for me to find some place to fit in? My whole life... It wasn’t just about Eric or my old hang-ups from growing up. I had Hunter to think about. He and I, we were both different. People were beginning to notice with Hunter. I hated to think he’d be a social outcast because of his differences. Or because of who I was seeing romantically.

A buzz and distinct ticking sound cut off my train of thought, and we both looked up to see the fluorescent light above the back step flicker to life. 

“Oh my God…What time is it?”

Owen checked his watch. “Six sharp.” We grinned stupidly at each other and Owen leaped to his feet with a whoop. The power was finally extended by an hour. “You hungry? We need to celebrate. I’ve got all the fixings for those caramel dumplings you used to like.”

“Sure. Okay, why not.” I was still peeved, but this girl was a sucker for dessert. 

Hunter helped Owen in the kitchen while I set up the DVD player with an old copy of The Little Rascals. I joined a floury Hunter in the kitchen and we helped wipe the benches down and did the dishes as Owen finished up at the stove. In the living room, Hunter sat on the floor at the coffee table eating his dessert glued to the TV while Owen and I sat beside one another on the couch eating. 

TV was still a novelty for Hunter. I had a small one in my room and only a few copies of DVDs I used to enjoy but often I just found myself reading at that time of evening or pottering around the house listening to music. If the power was on now an hour earlier maybe I could shift the little flat screen into the sitting room and get some kid’s movies. 

I popped the spoon from my mouth and licked the caramel sauce that had run down the handle. “So good.” I leaned back on the couch, feeling full and slightly buzzed. 

“He doesn’t have to be your boyfriend, Sookie. There are other men out there,” Owen said suddenly. “I mean, not me. That’s not what I meant. Just that … There are other men out there.” _Not vampires._

I blinked and put the spoon down. “Not for me there isn’t.” 

“You don’t know that.” 

“I do, Owen.” I gave him a small smile. “I really do.” 

Hunter looked at me from over his shoulder and screwed up his nose. I kept my shields in place, though it took effort when I had a little booze in my system. I took Hunter’s look as my cue. In the kitchen, I lifted Hunter up so he could wash his hands in the sink and we thanked Owen for his hospitality. 

“He’ll never be welcome here, will he?” I said to Owen when we were at the door. Hunter tugged at my hand, excited to get back on his bike. _Hang on just a sec, Hunter,_ I thought at him. 

“It’s not like that…” Owen trailed off, scuffing his hand through the back of his hair. 

“I think it is. Can you imagine if I asked Jessup to find Eric a place to live here?” 

Owen shrugged helplessly, and I was reminded all over again why Owen and I would’ve never worked - aside from the obvious hurdle of my telepathy. He was too wishy-washy and passive. Too accepting of the status quo to ever really be an even match for me. It was a terrible quality to have in a post-plague world. It was a wonder he'd even survived this long. And now, with his obvious prejudice against vampires…? It moved my ex-boyfriend firmly into the ‘not friend’ category.

Owen bid us goodnight, telling us to call in anytime. I’d barely had time to clip on Hunter’s bike helmet before he took off running into the dark street. I wrangled his bike under my arms and walked my own bike down the driveway, mentally calling Hunter to come straight back. 

_Eric!_ he cried in response. 

Eric and Hunter emerged from a shadowy driveway across the road, Hunter’s hand tightly clasped in Eric’s. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked leaning up on my toes kiss his cheek. He smelled clean and fresh.

“I could say the same to you,” Eric said arching a speculative brow to Owen’s house behind me.

“That’s not what I meant,” I said back. “I mean… I thought you’d gone home.” 

Hunter began leading Eric up the road, tugging him by the hand. Eric took Hunter’s bike from me, easily tucking it under his free arm. 

“Is he normally so forward?” He nodded to their joined hands.

“No, well, not to humans. Skin contact with y’all helps keep things silent up here,” I said tapping my temple. Eric and Hunter hadn’t spent much time together. At all, really. I’d reintroduced Eric to Hunter at the beginning of Eric’s visits, referring to Eric as my friend. They’d spent time with each other only briefly once or twice when Eric arrived before I had put Hunter to bed for the night. Hunter remembered him but I’d really not given him to chance to socialize with Eric, though he wanted to. 

In my mind, it was still too early. Way early. I’d heard of single parents not introducing new romantic partners to their children until many months or even a year into a relationship. But that was back then. Back in the old world. The dating pool was about 99.99% larger in those days.

I didn’t know what the rule of thumb was with single moms and dating, especially when it came to dating vampires, but my plan was to let my gut lead the way. I wouldn’t be repeating any of the mistakes I made trying to force things with Owen. What failure that had been. 

Plus, it wasn’t hard to establish some distance between Eric and Hunter. Most of the time Eric wouldn’t arrive until just before Hunter went to sleep, so there hadn’t been much opportunity for them to socialize. That suited me fine for the moment. 

“He needs to be more wary of vampires,” Eric said in that pragmatic tone of his. Not passing judgment, simply stating what he believed to be fact. “Racing into the dark assuming they’re friendly is-” 

“Mommy, Eric’s going to play blocks in my room when we get home.” 

“We’ll see, hon. You have to get in your jammies and brush your teeth first.” I looked back to Eric. “His only contact with vampires is Pam. If that isn’t enough to make him wary, I’m not sure what I could say or do to make a difference.” I would need to work on it with him, though. It didn’t pay to be too trusting these days. I tugged at my ponytail self-consciously. “You’ve never stayed a second night before…” 

“I asked you to consider moving across the country. I thought now was good time to spend more time together while you consider your options. Although I didn’t anticipate you’d be visiting the home of your ex-lover the night after I leave. Is this your usual habit?” He raised a brow and shot me the side-eye.

“I didn’t peg you for the jealous type.” 

“Oh, I’m not jealous.” He smirked and let the comment dangle. 

“Right. Not jealous. Possessive?” 

His grin widened, the tips of his fangs peeking below his top lip. “Of you? Always.” 

I rolled my eyes at him but didn’t bother suppressing my smile. So sue me. What girl doesn’t like feeling wanted by her honey? 

We rounded the corner onto the man road. The moon hung like a thin sickle high above us dimly illuminating our way. 

“So what’s on the agenda tonight, then?” I asked. “Are we going to spar?” Since Eric entered my life again he’d taken to giving me self-defense lessons. He’d brought over mats, a small weights bench and a punching bag and decked out my basement. I wasn’t really sure who the set up was mostly for … Me, as a means of keeping fit and being able to protect myself if the need called for it, or Eric, as an attempt to deal with the trauma we went through together with Ocella. He never said anything, but I gleaned from our conversations that he hadn't quite got over what transpired between us in that atrium thanks to his maker. He drew relief from helping me become more self-sufficient. To become a fighter. What a pair we made. We both had serious control issues. 

I’d never match him in terms of strength, agility or sheer physical skill, but I sure had a few tricks up my sleeve when it came to one-on-one combat now. The plus side was a lot of the time the sparring ended with wrestling… which often ended with more pleasurable pursuits.

“I was hoping to,” he said with a nod.

We passed the walk with Hunter filling in the natural lulls of our conversation with his usual stream of consciousness chatter. Eric, like Claude, also heard a detailed description of the new bee-hive amongst many of the conversation topics. 

We were kicking off our shoes at the front entrance when I heard Eric’s sudden intake of breath behind me. 

“You had visitors today…?” he rasped.

I swiveled on the spot. Eric’s eyes were dilated, his lips slightly parted and slack. Whoa, nelly. I resisted the urge to gulp and take a step back. The porch light illuminated his silhouette, casting long shadows across his face. He cut a chilling figure. It was easy to forget he was lethal. Except for right now in this very moment.

“Yes,” I said and placed a reassuring hand on his chest, trying not to show my spike of fear. His nostrils flared and his eyes took on a hungry sheen. I’d bet my left foot he could smell it. “I didn’t think you’d visit tonight so I haven’t aired the house. Why don’t you meet me on the back porch while I put Hunter to bed?” 

He nodded once and zipped from sight, Hunter whooping in excitement at his sudden departure. 

“C’mon, buddy,” I said, scruffing the boy’s hair and internally sighing with relief. “It’s teeth brushing time.” 

In the bathroom, I cleaned Hunter up with a warm washcloth and soap, then perched on the edge of the bath so I could help brush his teeth. 

“Mommy, do you have a baby in your tummy?” Hunter asked after he rinsed his mouth and spat into the sink. I froze and slowly returned the toothbrush to the caddy.

“No, honey. Why would you think that?”

“Owen’s brain voice in the kitchen. He was thinking about you with a big baby tummy and in a white dress.” 

My eyes widened and my gaze darted to the bathroom window which was open a crack. Eric was just outside on the porch, no doubt privy to every word right now.

“There’s no baby, Hunter. Owen’s a friend and we’re not even married, so no white dress either.” _You know better than to pay attention to what people think in their heads,_ I chided gently. 

_But if we’re a family then Roley can live here,_ he pouted.

 _People start families because they love each other, not because they want a dog to live at their house._ I smiled and straightened the collar on his flannel pyjamas. _I love you. You love me. It’s all the family we need._

“Now, c’mon, the power is about to go off and it’s way past your bedtime, mister.” 

Two bedtime stories later and one bout of tears once he realized he couldn’t play blocks, I tucked him in with a kiss. 

“Are we a family, Mommy?” 

“You better believe it.” 

“Even though I didn’t grow in your tummy?” 

I smoothed his hair off his forehead and scooted closer to him. 

“Where you come from doesn’t make you a family. What counts is what’s in here.” I touched my fingers to my chest. “I love you in here forever, no matter what. That makes us family. It’s an invisible connection. Like a rope between you and me that links us forever.” _Claudine, Colman, Claude, Uncle Dermot, Grandfather Niall, they’re all your family too,_ I added mentally.

 _Really?_ The realization seemed to strike him with unexpected excitement. 

_Yes, really. Maybe we don’t share invisible ropes with them yet, but I bet we will one day._

_We all have invisible ropes connecting us? That’s a lotta ropes, Momma._ His eyes boggled. 

_Kind of._ I chuckled out loud softly. _But we’re still getting to know that side of our family. You and me are the real deal, though._

He was asleep in minutes, and I left his room with a little spring in my step, excited that I could make use of the charmed mirror so quickly after Claude installed it. I grabbed the afghan off the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders, meeting Eric outside on the back patio. 

I hardly had time to shut the back door behind me before I found myself pressed against the brickwork of the house, my tall toothsome vampire dragging his nose across my neck. 

“He’s asleep?” His voice rumbled in his chest, a good octave lower than normal.

“Yes,” I said, laughing breathily, caught off guard. 

“Good.” His lifted me up, my legs wrapping around his narrow hips. He pressed himself tightly against me. “Now tell me why you were visiting the home of your former lover.” He was practically rubbing himself all over me, but he lifted his head, pinning me in place with the look in his eyes. He sure was right. This wasn’t a matter of jealousy. It was all possessiveness. He wanted me all to himself.

“Wouldn’t you rather find out why I had my family pop in today for a visit instead?” I ground myself back against him, making his fangs to snap the rest of the way down. “I think you’ll like the reason…” 

He arched a brow, and I explained to him the fairy charmed mirror delivered by Claude and how it would eliminate my shielding issues in the bedroom. Or outside against the side of the house, as it were. 

“He won’t be able to hear my mind thanks to the mirror, and as long as I’m touching you, I can relax my shields completely too,” I concluded with what I hoped was a seductive smile.

His fingers moved to tug the hem of my shirt up while he kissed a path from my neck to my mouth. “I am extremely pleased, lover. We must test it immediately.” His hands moved to my breasts, massaging them appreciatively.

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I said before kissing him again, running my tongue against a fang. He groaned in pleasure. He kissed me desperately and with a soft rip, he tore my bra in two, freeing my breasts. I laughed at his pleased expression as he flung the remains of my bra away, and I slid from his waist before my exercise leggings met a similar fate. I shimmied out of the leggings and began tugging at Eric’s belt, pulling it undone. With vampire speed, Eric divested himself of his trousers, and I was pressed back up against the house again. 

“Now tell me, lover,” he growled in my ear, parting my legs with a strong thigh. “Why were you visiting your old boyfriend?” 

With another rip, my panties were torn free. They were also tossed. A matching pair with my poor bra. 

“Was he trying to woo you again?” He fingers slipping between my thighs, parting my lips. He gently probed me and a shock wave of pleasure rolled head to toe through me. “Trying to warn you against me?” 

“No, he…” My words morphed into a breathless moan as he began lightly dipping his finger in and out of me. My breathing ratcheted up in speed as he added another finger, my body responding in kind.

“Does he not realize that you are mine?” he said, fangs scraping the shell of my ear. Oh God, I usually had no patience for any of that possessive crap. But right now it was pressing all the right buttons. “Or did you simply not tell him?” he continued, his fingers his curled inside me and I mewled his name, unable to answer properly, unable to string together a coherent sentence. 

“Tell me,” he demanded, his tone gravelly and low, his erection pressing and rubbing against my hip. 

“He knows… ” I managed to respond. My climax loomed, my rapid breathing bordering close to sobs.

“Say it,” he growled. Oh god, he sounded so sexy. I clenched tightly around his fingers. 

“I’m yours,” I whispered. I grasped his hardness, stroking him up and down. 

“Yes,” he hissed. He lifted me off the ground, raising my thigh. “Again…” he said.

I tugged his hair, pulling him from my neck so I could kiss him deeply. “I’m yours,” I moaned against his mouth and his fingers were suddenly replaced with his hard length in a single, confident thrust.

That was it. I was a goner. If he’d asked any more of me, I couldn’t tell you. I was lost in the feel of him, the way he filled me. I clung to his shoulders as he rode me hard against the wall. I think he screwed me to another plane of existence, or until my thinking brain was simply forced to shut down and we were just two beings, held captive by the physical expression of our feelings for one another. I clamped my teeth down hard on his shoulder when I came, muffling my cry, stars appearing in my eyes. 

My bite took him by surprise. His fangs sank into my shoulder in response, his orgasm chasing quickly after my own. Mine was a big, hitting me like a sledgehammer, and I rode the aftershocks for what felt like minutes, or maybe it was hours, before awareness slowly returned. Eric cradled me gently now, his scratchy cheek nuzzling my neck. I kissed his shoulder, drawing in a small gasp when I realized I’d drawn a little blood. 

“I made you bleed,” I said. I tasted blood in my mouth, not much, and there were a few drops on his shoulder from where my teeth marks had healed. I kissed them away apologetically.

He chuckled throatily. “My feisty fairy.” He vamped us to my bed and pulled the covers over us. I loved this part after sex almost as much as the sex itself. Well. Almost. Eric was cuddly for a vampire, and even for a human, judging by the musings I’d pulled from unsatisfied women over the years. I settled my head in the crook of his shoulder as his fingers stroked the back of my arms. 

“Every night,” he said after several content minutes passed.

“Hmm?” I responded drowsily. I slung my leg up over his.

“We could enjoy this every night if you came with us.”

“Eric…” My tone was warning, but I had to admit that in my current state the idea sounded pretty darn good. I could handle spending every evening post-orgasmic and boneless.

“Sookie.” 

I propped myself up on one elbow and looked down at him. “Don’t push me on this,” I said. 

“I’m not.” Eyebrow quirked. “I’m simply pointing out a fact.” 

“No, you’re not. There’s nothing simple about it! You’re trying to sway me. This is a big decision, Eric. I have a son to think about. Don’t force my hand, or you won’t like the answer.” 

“Is this what you wish instead? To not speak of it at all? Pretend this isn’t happening?” His lips settled into a firm line. I went to interject but he cut me off with an annoyed wave of his hand. “So I ask you once and then I must await your permission to bring it up again. What’s my alternative? That I force the issue and receive an upsetting ultimatum? This is a decision that requires discussion.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and rolled out of bed, walking over to the window. I drew back the filmy sheer curtains and pulled the window shut. Eau De Fairy had well and truly worn off. I turned back around and perched on the window frame, still naked as a jaybird. I’d become comfortable, bold even, in his presence. We stared at one another for a long moment. 

“Give me a week,” I said finally. My stomach churned at the thought of the conversation, even as a hypothetical. Urgh. Why couldn’t things just be simple? Why did Pam decide now was the time to leave? Couldn’t she have waited until Eric and I were at a more solid point in our relationship? I rubbed my forehead and closed my eyes. I wanted to pout, but I wasn’t being exactly fair. Her life choices weren’t dependent on the state of my relationship with Eric. Unfortunately, it was beginning to look like the opposite might be true. “I need a week to wrap my head around this idea. I’ll have questions, and I need to consider this from different angles. Then we can talk.” 

When I opened my eyes Eric was regarding me with a satisfied look, his eyes trailing down my naked form. It occurred to me that this was exactly the way he intended this conversation to go. Wanting me to agree to talk about it. And I walked myself right into his honey pot. Damned tricky vampire. 

“Don’t look so pleased with yourself,” I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest. 

He grinned broadly. “If I appear pleased, it is only because my beautiful woman is standing before me naked and thoroughly ravished; my seed running down the inside of her shapely thigh.” 

I gasped and my face immediately blazed red. 

“You know, it’s not too late for me to rescind your invitation!” I called over my shoulder as I darted from the room and straight to the bathroom. His hearty laugh followed me all the way down the corridor. 

Thank goodness Hunter was a heavy sleeper. And thank goodness I had a chance to kick his ass down in the basement as soon as I was done getting clean.


End file.
